Child Development

About

Department Head

Dilara Fatoş Özer

The foundations of human life are laid between the ages of 0-18. Considered as a child until 18 years of age, the individual requires protection, monitoring, and care. Additionally, the individual also needs a happy family environment in which s/he receives acceptance, love, and value, his/her rights are looked out for, s/he is received with tolerance and understanding for his/her personality to develop completely and congruously.

However, these needs cannot be met for all children. In addition to children with different developmental processes, there are also many children who work, live in the streets, are under protection, are pushed into crime or neglected and abused. Child development is a professional field serving to all these children and their families and making significant contributions to the wellbeing of individuals, families, and society. This profession is undoubtedly based on love of children and it is only possible to touch the lives of humans and raise happy individuals through this love. Considering that all the individuals who play a role in the construction of society were once children, one can grasp the significance of this profession.

The educational program of our department has been prepared in line with the criteria established by ‘National Core Curriculum Program’ determining the framework of the child development undergraduate education provided in our country on a national scale. In this regard, the program offers fundamental courses on topics such as anatomy, physiology, sociology, psychology, child neurology, and nutrition in addition to area-specific courses on topics such as developmental diagnosis and evaluation, developmental support programs, early intervention, child-oriented family counselling, and field applications.

Child development experts can be employed in institutions and organizations that carry out work in the areas of health, education, and social services and in non-governmental organizations that offer services for the support of children’s health and education.